Sample Migration Plan Outline

In this section, we provide part of a sample outline for your migration plan. Migration plans will vary greatly across regions, countries, and organizations, so use this outline as a starting point for developing your own.

1. Migration plan name

2. Migration project name

3. Scope of migration plan

4. Reasons for migrating to Exchange Server 2003

   1. Business reasons

      1. Cost projections

      2. Expected ROI

      3. Productivity issues

      4. Other reasons

   2. Technical reasons

      1. Increased security

      2. More administrative flexibility

      3. Other reasons

   3. Benefits of migrating to Exchange Server 2003

   4. Definition of success

      1. Objective/measurable goals

      2. Definition of when each goal is attained

5. The Migration Team

   1. Members’ contact information

   2. Team roles and responsibilities

   3. Communication between members

   4. Communication between members and stakeholders

6. Current network snapshot

   1. Physical layer diagram and discussion

      1. Areas to improve before migration

   2. Network layer diagram and discussion

      1. Areas to improve before migration

   3. Name resolution

   4. DHCP

   5. Windows Server 2003 topology

      1. Domain controller placement

      2. Global catalog placement

      3. Windows Server 2003 site topology

   6. Security structure

      1. Firewall topology

      2. IDS and security applications

      3. Proposed location for front-end servers

   7. Hardware discussions

      1. Current hardware

      2. Proposed hardware with cost projections

      3. Resource recovery for decommissioned servers

   8. Homegrown applications for Exchange

      1. Description of how these applications will change with Exchange 2003

      2. Method for regression and quality testing

7. The Proposed Network Topology after the Migration

   1. Active Directory design

   2. Exchange administrative design

   3. User mailbox and database design

   4. Public folder design

   5. DNS, DHCP, domain controller, and global catalog design

   6. Remote Access and Outlook Web Access design

   7. Security design incorporating Exchange 2003 features

8. The migration plan

   1. Active Directory design and preparation

   2. Moving users to Active Directory

   3. Moving directory information to Active Directory

   4. Moving mailboxes to Active Directory

   5. Moving distribution lists to Active Directory

   6. Moving public folders to Active Directory

   7. Upgrading the clients to Outlook 2003

   8. Decommissioning old Exchange servers

   9. Moving to native mode

9. Assessment and evaluation